Image of a senior man recuperating in a hospital bed

Hospitalizations are down for the U.S. population overall, and older Americans account for an increasingly smaller proportion of admissions, according to the latest weekly data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And in related news, seven in 10 Americans over the age of 65 have now received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, reports Axios. The two positive trends — reduced hospitalizations and vaccine uptake — may be another sign that vaccinations are working for older adults, not only inside long-term care facilities, which has become plainly evident since the drugs’ rollout in January, but in the larger population as more people become eligible for the shots. 

But it’s not yet time for older Americans to let down their guard, experts say. It’s uncertain how long immunity from the current vaccines will last and how virus variants will affect that protection and virus transmission.

The Food and Drug Administration in February pledged that it would fast-track approval of booster drugs to strengthen COVID-19 vaccine protection against the virus variants that have health officials concerned, the Wall Street Journal reported. And those added shots could help ensure effective protection for long-term care residents, Kevin W. O’Neil, M.D., FACP, CMD, chief medical officer of ALG Senior told McKnight’s Clinical Daily at the time.